Dear Shannon

A while ago, I listened to a discussion where it was suggested that puppies should go to their new homes at 6 weeks of age to optimise their socialising and adaptation to their family.

I know that puppies go through many development phases, and had understood from behaviourists that 7 - 8 weeks was the best time to separate from the litter to attach to the new pack. I was under the impression that at 6 weeks puppies experience a fearful and insecure phase.

As a breeder I want my pups to have the best start possible in their new homes. Leaving aside the possible conflicts between vaccination schedules and socialising and bonding issues, at what age do you advise the puppies go?

regards
Concerned Breeder

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Dear Concerned Breeder,

The topic of the optimum age for a pup to leave for his new home is one that is guaranteed to get a range of answers and heated debate. Unfortunately too many breeders rely on anecdotal advice from their mentors, untested experience or they simply do so because "that's what everybody does".

The breeder has the task of letting the pup go when "he is enough of a dog to be a dog, but not too much of a dog to be a pet". In other words, the pup needs to be well skilled at living in a peer group, but not to the extent that it hinders his bond with people.

BLANKET AGE
It is very difficult (if not impossible) to give a blanket rule in respect of the exact age for homing. One of the reasons is difference in the mental and physical development of individual puppies.

In an article written by Dr. Ed Bailey (related to the homing of Gundogs at 7 weeks of age) he states: "One finding extremely important to the mystical (mythical?) 49 days time frame was that pups in a single litter could vary in developmental age by a week in each direction though all are born within a few hours. This developmental variation arises from several sources- conception can vary two to three days due to superfetation*, delay in implantation of fertilized ova in the uterus may be another two to three days, location in the uterine horn, blood supply to the various embryos, developmental arrests or speedups, differential delay in parturition all can contribute to developmental variability. There is also differential post partum development especially during the first few weeks. This means that by the time the pup reaches 49 days since birth, it can be anywhere between 42 and 56 days old developmentally relative to all other pups in the total population of pups whelped on the same day, even to pups in the same litter. And it is the neural, physiological and physical development, not the exact chronological age, not minutes elapsed since popping into the cold, cruel world that is important in the behavioral stability or lack of it in pups and later when the pups reach adult status."1

From this one can surmise that each puppy in the litter should be individually assessed prior to determining a homing age.

As you will see later, even with vast developmental lags, the age of 10 weeks is a fairly safe bet with regard to relevant completed behavioural stages.

FEAR PERIOD
Another aspect to consider is the fear period that you refer to. Let's refer to studies done on the phenomenon of the fear period in puppies:

Freedman, King, Elliott, 1961, in Scott and Fuller, 1965: Puppies raised in a semi-open environment in (nearly) complete isolation from humans** reacted differently towards an active unfamiliar observer depending on their age. Each puppy was taken from the surrounding in which it was raised, placed in contact with humans for one week, and again tested. Fear in the presence of a human that handled him decreased from 3 to 5 weeks, was minimal at 5 weeks, then increased again afterwards. Recovery (improvement or disappearance of fear) after a week of interaction-socialisation was more efficient at 3 weeks; it was roughly the same at 5, 7 and 9 weeks.

Scott and Fuller, 1965: A puppy - raised in the same type of surroundings - was placed 10 minutes a day with a passive observer, calmly sitting in the room and paying no attention to the dog. At 3 to 5 weeks, the puppy investigated the observer openly. At 7 weeks, it took 2 days before it investigated (2 10-minute sessions). At 9 weeks this took 3 days and at 14 weeks it no longer investigated the observer.

Dehasse summarises: "Puppies demonstrate an investigation-attraction behaviour towards the unfamiliar as soon as they are able to express this attraction at 3±½ weeks. This attraction subsides in an almost linear manner after the 5th week until at least 9 weeks. The attraction recedes under the influence of fear of the unknown behaviour, which grows after 5 weeks; the puppy "recovers" from its initial fearful reaction instantaneously from 3 to 5 weeks (investigation behavior effect), and then it remains wary for longer periods as it grows older. At 12 weeks socialisation requires active manipulation (mimicking play-fights), at 14 weeks socialisation seems to be impossible."2

Bailey adds: "The last half of the socialisation period is marked by the development of fear responses starting in the 5th week, then escalating rapidly through the 7th week to a peak at 9 weeks, then levels off in the 10th week where it remains for the dog's life. In general anything associated with fear during weeks 7 through 9 in the non-socialised dog** remains a fearful stimulus for life unless changed by systematic desensitising. Fear of aversive stimuli occurring for the first time during this period such as harsh punishment, isolation, or any strong fear-inducing stimulus, can result in extremes in behavior, abnormal fearfulness, difficulty in training or anti-social behavior as an adult."1

It would thus make sense to keep the pup's routine as stable as possible during the fear period (starting at 7 weeks) and to home pups once this period is complete i.e. 10 weeks onwards.

SPECIES VS PEOPLE BONDING
The pup's optimal time for species identification is 3 weeks to 14-16 weeks2. In this time the pups learn an incredible amount with regard to canine communication and pack skills. During this stage puppies also learn bite inhibition as well as gross motor and fine motor control.

However if pups are homed after this period, they may well have trouble in bonding with people as the domestication phase is said to run from 3 weeks to 12 weeks2.

Based purely on the rule of averages it would thus appear that somewhere in the middle would be a sensible choice. This would put us at the age of 9-10 weeks.

APPEASEMENT SKILLS
In 1965, Scott and Fuller, demonstrated that a puppy yaps and rolls over on its back and then learns to keep away from its mother's teats during the weaning process. An aggression-inhibition relationship hierarchisation is then established between the mother and puppy for access to the mother's teats.

This attitude is extended towards other mother-young conflicts and adopted in the presence of other adults, as shown by Dehasse: "In a husky breeding station the presence of the mother beyond the 5th week led to her puppy's spontaneous submission to the adults of the pack. In another station the mother was taken from the breeding kennel when her puppies were 5 weeks old; these puppies were not submissive to adults when they were first placed with the rest of the group at 12 to 16 weeks. They did not use the submissive posture (rolling over) thus the ritual was not acquired." 2

The presence of the mother is thus vital for the development of appeasement-submission rituals. It goes without saying that the puppy should be entirely weaned and should be well skilled at displaying the correct appeasement rituals long before homing is even considered. Breeders who force wean puppies (in order for the bitch to retain a tidy undercarriage for the showring) and thus never allow the puppies to learn appeasement-submission rituals do a terribly disservice to the puppies and puppy buyers alike.

Most bitches left to their own devices would have weaned their pups entirely by 8 weeks. Homing at 10 weeks would give the pups ample time to practice and refine the appeasement-submission rituals, thereby endowing them with better social skills.

CONCLUSION
Based on the above data it would thus seem scientifically valid to home puppies at 10 weeks of age. At this age they should be well prepared to integrate into another pack as well as still have time to effectively bond with their owners (the breeder's constructive presence from the age of 3 weeks has in effect already ensured that the pups will bond with people per se).

The caveat would be if the pup were in a sterile environment, devoid of human or canine contact or appropriate sensory stimulation. In this instance he would be better off being homed as soon as he is weaned into an environment where he can acquire these proficiencies and practice his social skills.

I suppose that one could argue that if a dog is to be a pet with no contact with other dogs, then perhaps 6 weeks would be a appropriate time for homing, as this would allow a further 6 weeks within the domestication phase. However I would argue that many inter-canine skills carry over onto how our dogs communicate and interact with us. Denying a puppy the opportunity to develop an effective canine communication repertoire could thus hinder his ability to communicate and interact with humans.

*Superfetation is the fertilisation and subsequent development of an ovum when a fetus is already present in the uterus, yielding fetuses of different ages. This is not to be confused with the common misconception that pups are conceived on the days of the different matings. The ova are only released after the bitch normally disallows mating, so it is not feasible that some puppies can be conceived on the first mating and some puppies conceived on the second mating. Superfetation refers to an ovum being released and fertilised once fetuses are already present i.e. during gestation. However there is dispute over whether this can or does occur in dogs.

**It must be remembered that these researchers refer to pups that are unsocialised i.e. no or very little human contact. A typical breeder's pups will no doubt have human contact, so the propensity for severe behavioural problems if the pup is homed during the fear period is greatly reduced as the pups would probably already have established an attraction toward people.

Regards

Shannon

References:
1. Why Not Seven Weeks? The Forty-Ninth Day Revisited (Gun Dog 13:5. Apr/May 1994) Dr. Ed Bailey
2. Sensory, Emotional and Social Development of the Young Dog (Version 1.1 - 6 Feb. 97 - 26 Nov. 2001) Dr. Joël Dehasse